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Published: January 10th 2008
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Fort in Southern Goa
while on a scooter trip with Coree and friends It has been an extremely long time since I have written last, and for this I have two excuses: the hot sun and great company. The last time I wrote, Coree and I had arrived in Goa and were staying in Palolem Beach and this remained the case for me for the month of December. While Coree went off to South East Asia early for her own set of adventures, I had previously decided to give myself a few more weeks in Goa, the place I had always imagined as Paradise. Without Cor, my experience on Palolem changed dramatically. It would be difficult to imagine the difference that travelling alone, rather than with another person, can make until you have experienced the trip both ways…
On my first day alone, I spent the day under the sun, swimming, and working on some writing. And yet while my plan for the night was to spend it relaxing with a fish dinner, a beer, and a book, I quickly found that sitting alone makes you very approachable to other lone travelers. By the end of the night, I had already met a range of different people who quickly became close friends
of mine for the rest of my time in Goa. One of these people happened to be the owner of the bar/restaurant, and after a few nights he invited me (and another friend of mine) to take a 3 day trip up into Northern Goa where he could check on his other restaurants and I could see the other beaches that Goa had to offer. If I took anything out of that trip (not including the many hangovers) it was the beauty of my home beach, Palolem, and how lucky I was to have already stumbled across the best beach in India!
My days in Palolem remained very much the same, my friend Jimmy would wake me up in the late morning (by shaking my hut side to side). We would then go down to our favourite restaurant, eat lunch for breakfast, and then lay on the beach until sunset, where we would head back to our huts for a late Siesta and later meet up with our friends for dinner and drinks. Not long after I established myself in Palolem did I feel right at home and a desire to be there for my first Christmas away from
Bom Jesus
Another church in Old Goa my friends and my family. After a quick change of flights, I was set to stay until the 28th where I would fly to Singapore and then train into Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and spend New Years with Coree and our friend Hayfa. I suppose my flight change was a blessing because soon after I fell ill and with a Christmas Eve trip to the doctor, I was diagnosed with a bacteria infection in my stomach and Bronchitis. As sad as it was to be in bed on Christmas, in Palolem it was just another day of the year and while I couldn’t spend it outside I had had four weeks of incredible memories and that was an amazing Christmas present in itself. Ad despite ‘the Bronch’ and a sore tummy, I did manage to take part in a small present exchange. Jimmy and I buried each other’s presents on the beach and made treasure maps in order to find them (childish but a surprisingly exciting little game!)
I left Goa behind on the 28th of December after a tearful goodbye (I continue to think about my time in Goa, weeks after leaving it behind!). However, once in Kuala Lumpur,
it was so exciting to see Hayfa, meet back up with Coree, and be in a clean(er), far more organized city that I couldn’t help but jump right into the swing of things. My New Years sadly ended around 10pm due to a bottle of wine and 3 types of antibiotics (it seems I jumped into party mode before I was ready). Nevertheless, we did make it out to a few bars later that week, work on our pool skills (Cor and I are both becoming quite the Sharks), meet a few knew friends, and do some “non-India” things like go to the movie theatre and ride the city monorail. By January 5th we had said goodbye to Hayfa and flown to Bangkok to meet up with my dear Burlington friends, Bridget and Brianne!- something I have long been anticipating. We now have been in Bangkok for less than a week but are ready to leave behind Khao San Road and head South to the beaches. The four of us are taking a night bus tonight to Koh Phi Phi to restore our tans, or in the case of the Btown new arrivals, turn their ghostly figures into Golden Godesses!
Sunset from Old Goa
Left to return back to Palolem a little late in the day and scootered India traffic in the dark
Note: all made it home alive
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